The present invention relates to matching-circuit impedance adjusting method and apparatus for adjusting the impedance of a matching circuit having pattern lines.
Conventionally, for transmitting amplifier circuits in telephone base stations, an average power of, for example, 280 W has been required while it has been required to secure an output of such large power, it has moreover been required to amplify and transmit a signal through high-precision signal conversion that allows signal distortion to be suppressed as much as possible, thereby preventing any adverse effects on other communications. In order to meet such a strict demand, it is necessary to adjust the impedances of chip capacitors 102, 103 for a multiplicity of transistors 101 used in the transmitting amplifier circuits of a base station by adjusting the constants and placement positions of the chip capacitors 102, 103 with a soldering iron as shown in FIG. 33.
In this impedance adjustment, it is required to convert from several ohms to 50 ohms to 1 or 2 ohms as an example. In order that such large output performance can be be ensured, it is necessary, in the impedance adjustment, to perform the adjustment work within a low degree of freedom to achieve the matching of passive components. By way of a concrete example of the adjustment, given that moving the capacitors 102, 103 by 1 mm causes the center frequency to shift by 30 MHz as an example, the precision requirement, which is in several MHz, demands positional adjustment on the order of the first decimal place, thus making the adjustment work very difficult.
Also, conventional impedance adjustment places result from the combination of 8 parameters consisting of individual positions of two input capacitors and two output capacitors as well as their respective constants. Such mixed adjustment work at plural sites would involve mutual effects among individual processes for the work, resulting in complex adjustment work. Thus, there has been an issue that the conventional adjustment time would be at least 10 minutes or more as an example and, in some cases, several hours.
An example of the method for a adjustment is a cut-and-try process. In this process, for example, first in a coarse adjustment, the best position is adjusted with a capacitor of large capacity (1:5 xcfx81f) to determine the best gain and the best position, the best position is again adjusted and determined with 1.8 of xcfx81f and further with about 2.2 xcfx81f-5 xcfx81f, and then the capacitor is fixedly set in its best condition. Next, in a fine adjustment, with a capacitor of small capacity (0.1 xcfx81f) added for the fine adjustment, the fine adjustment is carried out in the same manner as in the coarse adjustment, the best position is adjusted with 0.2 xcfx81f to determine the best gain and the best position, and the best position is again adjusted and determined with 0.5 xcfx81f. By repeating this process, the capacitor is fixedly set in its best condition. However, since this process is performed by manual work, there have been issues that significant variations would occur among workers and that longer working time would be required.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-described issues and to provide method and apparatus for adjusting the impedance of a matching circuit by which the impedance adjustment can be achieved in shorter time while ensuring high precision.
In order to achieve the above object, the present invention has the following constitutions.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method for adjusting impedance of a matching circuit by, in a matching circuit having a pattern line, partly cutting out a stub protruding widthwise from the pattern line, the method comprising: at occurrence of an excessive cut-out of the stub, forming an auxiliary cut-and-removed portion by partly cutting and removing the stub so that the stub is made apparently longer.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the first aspect, further comprising:
based on a relationship between cutting-out amounts for partly cutting out the stub of the pattern line and impedances of the matching circuit as well as a relationship between cutting-and-removing amounts of the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion for partly cutting and removing the stub and impedances of the matching circuit, determining a cutting-out amount, or a cutting-and-removing amount, or a cutting-out amount and a cutting-and-removing amount, for adjusting the impedance of the matching circuit to a target value by simulation or by comparison operation of an impedance measured value with information in a database; and
based on the cutting-out amount, or the cutting-out amount and the cutting-and-removing amount, of the stub determined by the simulation or by the comparison operation of the impedance measured value with the information in the database, partly cutting out or cutting and removing the stub, so that the impedance of the matching circuit is adjusted to the target value.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the first aspect, further comprising: in partly cutting and removing the stub to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, forming a slit along a widthwise direction of the stub.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the third aspect, wherein the slit is formed three or more in number in the stub of the pattern line so that the three or more slits are formed into comb-teeth-like cuts.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the third aspect, wherein the slit is formed three or more in number in the stub of the pattern line so that the three or more slits are formed into staggered cuts.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the first or second aspect, further comprising: in partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, forming a cut-out along a widthwise direction of the stub of the pattern line.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to the first or second aspect, further comprising: in partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, forming a hook-type slit in the stub of the pattern line.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through seventh aspects, wherein the cutting-out amount, or the cutting-and-removing amount, or the cutting-out amount and cutting-and-removing amount, of each stub of the pattern line are made different from one another.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through eighth aspects, further comprising: changing the cutting-and-removing amount of the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion in a thicknesswise direction of the stub of the pattern line, thereby performing the impedance adjustment.
According to a 10th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through ninth aspects, wherein the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion is formed by, with a recessed portion previously formed along a thicknesswise direction of the stub of the pattern line, burying an insulating resin in the recessed portion and then cutting and removing the insulating resin to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion.
According to an 11th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through 10th aspects, further comprising: performing fine adjustment in accordance with impedance characteristic by combining a widthwise cutting-and-removing of the stub of the pattern line and a thicknesswise cutting-and-removing of the stub of the pattern line.
According to a 12th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through 11th aspects, further comprising: with an impedance variation amount on a Smith chart changed by length and width of the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, adjusting the impedance of the matching circuit to the target value based on a phase on the impedance.
According to a 13th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting method according to any one of the first through 12th aspects, wherein the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion is formed by partly cutting and removing the stub with a laser beam.
According to a 14th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus comprising:
a laser irradiation device for irradiating a stub of a pattern line of a matching circuit having the pattern line with a laser beam to partly cut and remove the stub of the pattern line, thereby forming an auxiliary cut-and-removed portion;
a measuring instrument for measuring an impedance of the matching circuit;
a storage section for previously storing a relationship between cutting-out amounts for partly cutting out the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam and impedances of the matching circuit, as well as a relationship between cutting-and-removing amounts of auxiliary cut-and-removed portions for partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam and impedances of the matching circuit; and
an operating section for, based on the relationships stored in the storage section, determining a cutting-out amount, the cutting-and-removing amount, or a cutting-out amount and a cutting-and-removing amount, for adjusting the impedance of the matching circuit to a target value, by simulation or by comparison operation of an impedance measured value with information stored in a database,
wherein the impedance adjusting apparatus performs: irradiating the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam to partly cut out, or cut and remove, the stub of the pattern line based on the cutting-out amount, or the cutting-out amount and the cutting-and-removing amount, determined by the simulation or by the comparison operation of the impedance measured value at the operating section with the information stored in the database; then measuring the impedance of the matching circuit with the measuring instrument; and comparing an impedance measured value measured by the measuring instrument with the target value at the operating section, where if the two values have a difference therebetween beyond a permissible range, the impedance adjusting apparatus performs: irradiating the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam to partly cut out, or cut and remove, the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam, based on a cutting-out amount, or a cutting-out amount and the cutting-and-removing amount, determined again with the operating section by the simulation or by the comparison operation of the impedance measured value with the information stored in the database by means of the operating section.
According to a 15th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to the 14th aspect, wherein in forming the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion by partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device, a slit is formed widthwise of the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam.
According to a 16th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to the 15th aspect, wherein the the slit formed with the laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device is formed three or more in number in the stub of the pattern line so that the three or more slits are formed into comb-teeth-like cuts.
According to a 17th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to the 15th or 16th aspect, wherein the slit formed with the laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device is formed three or more in the stub of the pattern line so that the three or more slits are formed into staggered cuts.
According to an 18th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to the 14th aspect, wherein in partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion with the laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, a cut-out is formed along a widthwise direction of the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam.
According to a 19th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to the 14th aspect, wherein in partly cutting and removing the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device to form the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion, a hook-type slit is formed in the stub of the pattern line with the laser beam.
According to a 20th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to any one of the 14th through 19th aspects, wherein the cutting-out amount, or the cutting-and-removing amount, or the cutting-out amount and cutting-and-removing amount for each stub of the pattern line are made different from one another.
According to a 21st aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to any one of the 14th through 20th aspects, wherein the impedance adjustment is performed by changing the cutting-and-removing amount of the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion in a thicknesswise direction of the stub of the pattern line.
According to a 22nd aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to any one of the 14th through 21st aspects, wherein the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion is formed by, with a recessed portion previously formed along a thicknesswise direction of the stub of the pattern line, burying an insulating resin in the recessed portion, and then cutting and removing the insulating resin with a laser beam applied from the laser irradiation device.
According to a 23rd aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to any one of the 14th through 22nd aspects, wherein fine adjustment is performed in accordance with impedance characteristic by combining a widthwise cutting-and-removing of the stub of the pattern line and a thicknesswise cutting-and-removing of the stub of the pattern line.
According to a 24th aspect of the present invention, there is provided a matching-circuit impedance adjusting apparatus according to any one of the 14th through 23rd aspects, wherein with impedance variation amount on a Smith chart changed by length and width of the auxiliary cut-and-removed portion formed with the laser beam applied to the laser irradiation device, the impedance of the matching circuit is adjusted to the target value based on a phase on the impedance.